Aspects of the present invention relate to communications services, systems, social networks and the like, and more particularly to tracking at least recent and favorite contacts across multiple services, communications systems or social networks.
There are numerous communications services, communications systems, communications networks or social networks for communications between users, such as email, instant messaging (IM), chat, online forums, Lotus Notes®, Sametime®, IBM Connections, Facebook®, LinkedIn® or similar communications systems, networks or services. Lotus Notes® and Sametime® are trademarks of the Lotus Development Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. IBM Connections is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries or both. Facebook® is a trademark of Facebook, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both. LinkedIn® is a trademark of LinkedIn Ltd. in the United States, other countries or both. Each of these systems or services typically include an arrangement for storing and maintaining a list of contacts or to permit users to save a list of contacts or addresses that the user expects to contact or communicate with on a recurring basis within the particular system or service. The contacts or list of contacts are proprietary or exclusive to a particular system or service and may be tracked only within the particular communications service or system. A user would typically be required to manually copy contacts from one service or system to another. Contacts for the same person or user may also be different from one service or system to another. Additionally, users typically utilize more than one such system or service. Tracking and analyzing contacts across multiple services or systems that may be utilized by a user presents substantial complexities that need to be overcome.